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Regular website hosting and forum hosting differ slightly in the purpose of the hosting services. Traditional website hosting is geared towards hosting pages, maintaining databases and maintaining files for websites. Forum hosting, by contrast, focuses on supporting websites as public meeting places and discussions among forum members. Both types of websites have benefits, but the differences should be understood before selecting a proper hosting site.

Traditional Web Hosting

Traditional web hosting is a necessity for most companies. Any company with a website requires a web hosting server for the website. Most companies hire a third party vendor to posting the website on server. Remote server space may be purchased for a relatively low cost. Fast and reliable connections are required to ensure 99.9 percent up time of the website.

Many hosting services use T-carrier system lines to deliver the highest connection speeds available. If a company attempted to purchase this type of line for individual use, this becomes an expensive endeavor. With hosting services, costs are split among the subscribers, and the T-carrier system lines become more affordable.

Small businesses or individuals may post small websites on server for free through America Online and Geo-cities. The service is basic, but it can be helpful for small start up companies. Some companies prefer more advanced virtual hosting. This service may offer clients domain names, email addresses and server space for a low monthly price. Virtual servers may be controlled through a web-based application from any authorized employee’s computer.

Dedicated and shared server hosting is available to companies. Dedicated hosting is more secure and more expensive than shared hosting. Companies with significant website traffic will require dedicated hosting to ensure their website is secure and operational 99.9 percent of the time. Colocation is popular for large companies requiring their own server configuration.

PHPBB Hosting

PhpBB hosting was designed as a public meeting place. PhpBB is an open source forum hosting solution with a high usability factor and intuitive administration control panels. This type of hosting may be set up by a non-technical person, but it will require some reading and studying to accomplish the goal. Support for the common hosting service is available at http://www.phpBB.com. Tutorials and other documentation provide guidance for novice users.

This type of hosting is customizable to the user’s preference. A company can design forums specific to its needs. Most forums are user friendly and intuitive once set up. The setup process is as simple as downloading the software from the website. Filezilla FTP is also required for the process. Both Filezilla FTP and the hosting account must be open for the process to be completed properly.

Upload all relevant files into the specified folder. This folder is typically entitled main website_html. A video tutorial is available for additional instruction.

Conclusion

Business owners must determine the purpose of the website prior to selecting the hosting method. Traditional web hosting is most commonly used unless a dynamic forum will be hosted. PhpBB is the best choice for this type of website. Support for both types of hosting may be found online.